Episode 09: Life on Mars?

from syzygy · host Chris Stewart

Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.Find us on Twitter: @syzygypod twitter.com/SyzygyPodOr just visit us at home: syzygy.fmEmily at the University of York: www.york.ac.uk/physics/people/brunsden/Chris online: kipstewart.comSome of the things we talk about in this episode:• NASA’s announcement: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-finds-ancient-organic-material-mysterious-methane-on-mars• The first Science paper about Methane: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6393/1093• The second Science paper about organics in the dirt: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6393/1096• NASA’s Curiosity rover: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.htmlVideo showing Curiosity’s view of the Gale Crater: https://youtu.be/U5nrrnAukwI• Curiosity’s selfie: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/mount-sharp-photobombs-mars-curiosity-rover• Curiosity sings Happy Birthday to itself: https://youtu.be/uxVVgBAosqg• Methane from cows: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/cow-emissions-more-damaging-to-planet-than-co2-from-cars-427843.html• Water on Mars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars• Olympus Mons: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/solar_system_highlights/olympus_mons• ESA’s ExoMars: http://exploration.esa.int/mars/48088-mission-overview/• The fate of the Schiaparelli Lander: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/schiaparelli-requiem-for-a-mars-lander/• NASA’s Spirit & Opportunity rovers: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/index.html• The Mars 2020 mission: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/overview/• The Mars Helicopter! https://youtu.be/oOMQOqKRWjU https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7121• Sending humans to Mars: https://www.nasa.gov/content/journey-to-mars-overview

What this episode covers

A few weeks ago NASA gathered journalists from across the globe for an announcement about something they'd found on Mars. Naturally, the collective imagination went *nuts*, because surely, SURELY this was going to be The Big Announcement: finally, the discovery of Life Elsewhere In The Universe! Turns out, nope ... not quite. NASA did have some very cool things to talk about. Curiosity, the Mars Rover that just keeps on keeping on, has found seasonal changes in methane levels, which *could* be produced by biological mechanisms. It also found a bunch of interesting organic molecules in the martian soil. Neither of these discoveries say that life ever existed on Mars, but they're both tantalising whispers urging us to keep looking, keep looking ...